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First Capital REIT (FCR) have submitted applications for Zoning By-law Amendment and Site Plan Approval for two residential buildings and townhomes on Lawrence Avenue East in Scarborough’s Woburn Community. The proposal seeks to intensify the area by redeveloping the site, employing a variety of building heights and forms, all the while introducing 642 new residential dwellings units, public realm improvements, and city-building infrastructure – a central courtyard, new park, new street, new mid-block connection – to the neighbourhood.
The site is located on the north side of Lawrence Avenue East, mid-block between Markham Road and Greenbrae Circuit. It is currently developed with two single-storey commercial buildings, and large swathes of surface parking. The site is located directly across the street from FCR’s Cedarbrae Mall, an established neighbourhood destination providing local retail amenities, and some 200 metres west of the Markham-Lawrence intersection. The proposal leverages the site’s proximity to existing frequent transit and planned transit investments, including priority transit treatments on Lawrence Avenue East and the approved Lawrence Station on the Scarborough Subway Extension.
Led by BDP Quadrangle, the redevelopment proposal contemplates two L-shaped residential buildings with four distinct building elements ranging in height from 8 storeys to 29 storeys. Framing a central courtyard, the total gross floor area is 53,048m² for a density equivalent to 4.57 times the gross site area.
The proposal introduces a range of built form typologies and elements which are flanked by new community infrastructure: a 1,200m² public park at the southeast corner of the site for residents of the new development and the community, as well as a mid-block pedestrian connection and a new north-south public street ‘A’ connecting Lawrence Avenue East to Greenbrae Circuit.
As illustrated above, two ‘L’-shaped residential buildings (Building AB and Building CD) frame a landscaped courtyard located internal to the site. Building AB is comprised of a 10-storey ‘North Wing’ (A) fronting onto Greenbrae Circuit and an 8-storey ‘East Wing’ (B) sited in a north-south orientation north of the park, flanking the mid-block connection. The two elements are linked by a common 6-storey base. Building CD has a 13-storey mid-rise element ‘South Wing’ (D) located along the Lawrence Avenue East frontage and a 29-storey tower ‘West Wing’ (C) located along the new street. The two elements are linked by a common 8-storey base which anchors the tower and extends northward.
The internal courtyard, which includes a mix of hard- and soft-scaped areas, provides for a visual and physical separation between the new buildings. It serves as a unifying element for the development, connecting Lawrence Avenue East and the public park to the balance of the site, and provides opportunities for spillover activity, passive and active amenity, and additional site permeability.
The buildings have been massed to respond to Lawrence’s ‘Avenue’ classification, and to minimize their impact on the park and nearby low-rise 'Neighbourhoods' designated properties by incorporating a series of setbacks and step-backs. Internalized within the site, the tower is articulated through the use of materiality, step-backs at the uppermost levels, and alternating balcony treatments: inset, partially inset, and projecting.
The ground floor of Building AB includes the entrance to the residential lobby where the two wings intersect, directly accessible from the new courtyard. Faces are lined with integrated at-grade townhouse units, while the south elevation includes servicing and amenity areas. The ground floor of Building CD includes two residential lobbies, one servicing each wing. The edges, along the frontages of Lawrence, street ‘A’, the courtyard would include at-grade indoor amenity space. The balance is lined with townhouse units which feature ‘front yard' conditions; with walk-up paths, porches, and landscaping, while some would feature patios and landscaping.
A total of 642 residential units are proposed in a mix of apartment and integrated grade-related townhouse unit types: 402 one-bedrooms (63%), 172 two-bedrooms (27%), and 68 three-bedrooms (10%).
Residents would have access to 2,080m² of indoor amenity space located throughout the buildings, including on Level 1 and 6 of Building AB, and in three separate areas on Levels 1 and 9 of Building CD. In addition to the courtyard, an additional 638m² of outdoor amenity space is situated on the rooftops directly adjacent to the indoor spaces.
A three-level underground garage would accommodate 557 (460 resident, 97 visitor) vehicular spaces, and 482 bike slots.
You can learn more from our Database file for the project, linked below. If you'd like to, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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| Related Companies: | BDP Quadrangle, Bousfields, First Capital, MHBC Planning, RWDI Climate and Performance Engineering |
